The European Commission’s new Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a European Union funding programme for transport infrastructure projects for the period 2014-20.More.

>> City logistics in Greater Manchester

MDST has built on previous work for the European Commission and the English City Regions on urban freight transport to consider how Greater Manchester (GM) could significantly reduce emissions for “last mile” deliveries in the conurbation. More.

>> The “Euro 6 effect”

Trends in the sales of HGVs usually reflect the general state of the economy as the freight transport industry responds to the level of economic activity. More.

>> Transport for the North & logistics in the North of England

The Scottish Independence Referendum and its aftermath have highlighted the issue of whether, and if so how, some powers should be devolved to the English regions. More.

>> Rail Freight: The Impact of HS2

While the debate rages about the costs and benefits of HS2 to the British passenger transport network and its economy, less attention has been paid to the impact of the new high speed rail line on rail freight. More

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GBFM – the Great Britain Freight Model

GBFM is an integrated software/database system linking domestic and international GB freight data with simple economic models for explaining freight demand and allowing trend and scenario based forecasting. The model has been developed independently by MDS Transmodal, originally as an in-house system to make good use of available transport data.

GBFM has since been expanded, in partnership with various organisations including the UK Department for Transport (ITEA Division), the Freight Transport Association and HM Revenue and Customs.GFBM has recently undergone a major overhaul.Version 5.0 was released in early 2008.See the methodology and user guide.

GBFM is an evolving system. It represents our attempt to provide a tool for establishing a consensus on the impact of transport policy, the causes of traffic growth, the relationship between trade and inland traffic and the effects of competing transport modes. Outputs from the model include modal forecasts and results that can be assigned to networks and represented graphically.

We have used the model for many commercial and policy orientated applications including: